We All Need Somebody to Hate
by Corinne Jane
Summary: Changing a scene in "Dead Reckoning." I always thought Tony should have faced down Perry by himself. What if he hadn't stopped for Gibbs? what if Kort had been shot in the chest? Tony, Trent Kort banter, find common ground.


"Drop your weapon!" Anthony DiNozzo shouted, his own gun steadily pointed at Perry, whose weapon was currently pointed at the CIA scum Trent Kort. It had been a long week working with the man that blew up his car, spending most of it looking over his shoulder and checking his car for bombs daily exhausted him. He wondered when the other shoe would drop, when Kort's true motives would come to light, and only this afternoon were they revealed; Kort had been waiting for Perry's account numbers to steal his money and bring it home to the CIA, all he had to do now was kill off Perry and Kort would be golden. Unfortunately for Kort the confrontation didn't go down as planned, instead he ended up with the bullet in him and Perry with the gun aimed at his heart. He almost laughed at the irony, for once Kort's plan backfired on him, karma could be such a bitch but he was certainly warming up to her.

"You drop your weapon DiNozzo or I'll kill him!" Perry yelled angrily, his beady eyes dark and dilated.

"You know I can't do that Perry. Why don't you lower your weapon, it'll be a whole lot cleaner. And will save me a ton of paperwork." He called out to the madman. Personally he was rooting for Perry, the little voice inside of him cheered the madman on, Kort would be dead and Perry would finally give him a reason to shoot him and shut him up once and for all. However he knew Gibbs would kill him, not to mention the massive loads of paperwork that would be involved and the Internal Affair's investigation and the Director of the CIA would be on his ass…it simply wasn't worth it. Another time, another place, his wish would be granted but until then his job was to take Sterling into custody and that meant getting him to drop the weapon.

"Then I'm going to kill him!" Perry screamed desperation making his voice waver.

"By all means please do, I'm just warning you though you kill him, or you even fire that weapon at all and I'm going to have to put a bullet through that thick skull of yours. You don't have many options; I will shoot you to take you into custody." He said smiling sweetly mocking Perry in his own smartass way.

"Give me my money and I'll drop the weapon." Perry said darkly advancing on Kort.

"Move one more inch and I will fire. Can't let you take him hostage." He said shrugging, out of the corner of his eye he could see Kort shaking on the ground, flat on his back. He wondered how long Kort would last before his body finally gave out on him, he was tempted to watch and see but he knew he wouldn't, and it was more than just the paperwork and heat he would take if he let Kort die. "_Damn conscience_." he thought sourly.

Perry grinned in a way that disturbed him more than anything else ever had, before saying, "Well like you said I don't have many options. And if you think I'm going down alone, you got another thing coming." This was the real Perry, the criminal mastermind, the voice was dark and edgy, unlike the nervous nerd he was only hours before. His mind wandered into the darker side of the human species, wondering if serial killers were born with lack of empathy, or if they were made that way by society. He wondered how far one could be pushed, if at all. He got so far as to wonder if he could ever kill someone for the fun of it when Perry laughed again. "I see you thinking. You want to know what it's like to kill someone."

"I've killed before." He said curtly, not liking where this conversation was going, his gut screamed at him to take Sterling out but he didn't have a reason to yet; he'd get hell from Fornell.

"But not for pleasure. You've never felt the thrill of dread and anticipation, the excitement that tingles up your spine. You should try it. It wouldn't be so bad, look at him." Perry whispered soothingly, Tony did for a second, Kort was shaking violently, like he was having a seizure, his muscles spasmed causing him to jerk out and convulse, blood ran from his mouth and the wound in his chest, his breathing was raspy and his throat gurgled, blood oozed out like a slow running waterfall from his mouth. His chest rose sporadically, each time it did it elicited a choking whimper from the dying man on the ground. He swallowed, not particularly fond of Kort but knowing how it hurt to get shot; the man was clearly in agony. "It would be a mercy killing."

"No, it would be murder." He gasped out, his gut clenching, what the hell was going on? Why didn't he just shoot this bastard? Suddenly he just knew he couldn't let Kort die at this cold-hearted maniac's hand, but neither could he shoot Perry, his body wouldn't follow his mind's agonized screams. He knew he had to shoot Perry, knew he had to do it now, but he just couldn't physically pull the trigger. Perry smiled that brilliantly evil smile once again, darkness swirling in his eyes as looked back at Kort, the look on his face that of a predator advancing on it's prey about to go in for the kill, it was anticipation for blood. He felt his heart drop into his stomach it was now or never, it was shoot or Kort died. He pushed himself but still his body wouldn't move and before he knew what he was doing he dropped his gun, surprising not only himself but Perry as well. His body instantly relaxed, the tension gone, it soon obeyed his wishes once again. He feared it was too late, the look in Perry's eyes was sickening, and Kort was becoming less animated, he had to move quickly before Perry struck again. He moved forward slowly, showing Perry a smile, he stood next to him staring down at Kort. His shirt was ruined with blood, it pooled on top of his chest and ran onto the pavement, his eyes were nearly empty except for the pain that still lurked in the dark depths.

"You want to kill, Tony." Perry said calmly, his voice deep. He nearly flinched, but schooled his expression. He let his own eyes become shadowed, before silently nodding in anticipation. Perry guided the gun into his hands, Tony smiled and raised it to Kort's forehead, nearly at point blank range, rage swept through Kort's eyes, but Tony merely smiled before turning to his side and knocking Perry out with the butt of his own gun. Kneeling next to Kort he ignored the man's warning glare as he ripped open his shirt and covered the bullet wound with his hand, applying pressure to stop the blood. With his other hand he flipped open his phone and dialed an ambulance, "Requesting immediate back up, we got an agent down, shot in the chest, lost a lot of blood, he needs help and fast." Looking down he saw Kort staring up at him, his expression blank.

"Don't you die on me Kort. You still owe me a car. That baby was worth over sixty grand, not to mention I'm tacking on another twenty thousand dollars for: sentimental value, emotional distress, harassment and issues with the workplace, not to mention the cost of another car. I'm not letting you get off that easily." He said firmly, sending a mild glare in Kort's direction.

"You take things so personally. I needed to take over control of Grenouille's business, he was getting out of control, I needed him to say he wanted to retire and the best way of doing that was to put his daughter in danger. It was business, not personal. If it was you'd be dead DiNozzo, have no doubts about that." Kort gasped out, blood coming up with every word running faster down his face.

"Wow, it really may kill you to tell the truth." He said, Kort looked up at him questioningly. "You lose blood faster when you talk. So Shut up."

"Didn't know you cared DiNozzo." Kort said sarcastically.

"For you? No, I don't. For my career? A whole lot." He answered wryly.

"And what if I just decided to die right now in your care?" Kort said raising an eyebrow.

"You son of a bit--I'd ki--" He started before cutting himself off and squinted his eyes in concentration.

"Kill me? How original. It's a good thing I didn't expect an intelligent answer from you, otherwise I'd be very disappointed right now." Kort said in his usual manner. He almost smiled but bit his lip.

"You're going to be dead right now if you don't shut up. I don't need Fornell on my back, though he'd probably give me a thank you after arresting me." He said looking as if he actually thought about it.

"The FBI is a pain in the ass." Kort grounded out.

"Yeah I can see why you'd think that, being on their top ten most wanted list and all." He said cheerfully.

"Occupational Hazard." Was all Kort said.

"What, getting mistaken for the bad guys?" He asked lightly.

"Maybe not mistaken." Kort said darkly.

"Maybe I should shoot you?" He said questioningly.

"Put me out of my misery." Kort agreed.

"All you got to do is keep breathing." He said, wondering how they had traveled into friendly waters.

"I find it harder then I use to." Kort wheezed.

"Yeah a bullet in the chest can do that to you. Or the pneumonic plague." He said shrugging

"Pneumonic plague?" Kort asked.

"Yeah a psycho hippy sent it in a letter. I opened it and BAM! Infected. She still owes me for that Armani, suit and tie." He said totaling it up in his head.

"You keep running tabs on occupation hazards?" Kort said spitting out blood.

"Only when people go out of their way to kill me. Makes them feel special." He answered, his expression darkened for an instant before saying, "We all need some attention."

"Indeed. Deprived DiNozzo?" Kort asked smoothly.

"Nope. Jealous Kort?" He said sweetly.

"I'm not sure. You're giving me a lot of special attention right now. I'm feeling overwhelmed." Kort said warmly. He did laugh then.

"Don't get too excited Trent, you still have a bullet inside you." He said grinning.

"Never stopped me before."

"Yeah, nothing stops you huh?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"Am I detecting jealousy?" Kort asked lightening his tone.

"I'm not jealous of scum." He said loftily.

"Perhaps mold then." Kort answered smartly, just then sirens blared to life cutting off whatever he was about to say.

"Looks like the Calvary is here to whisk you to safety, my dearest fallen soldier!" He answered boldly, in a deep voice, impersonating some character from some movie, no doubt. Kort grimaced and rolled his eyes.

"Please let them run me over."


End file.
